Chelsea begun their title defence with a 6-0 demolition of the returning West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.
Chelsea: 6 (Florent Malouda 6', 90', Didier Drogba 45', 55', 68', Frank Lampard 63') West Bromwich Albion: 0
Venue: Stamford Bridge Crowd: 41,589 Referee: Mark Clattenburg Yellow cards:CH - Paulo Ferreira 56' WBA - nil
The Blues got off to the perfect start when the ball fell to Florent Malouda who made no mistake after John Obi Mikel's shot was deflected into his path in just the 6th minute.
Just before the break, Didier Drogba smashed a free-kick through the wall and into the bottom corner, making it 2-0, before adding a third ten minutes after the re-start with an easy finish from close range.
It was soon 4-0 when Frank Lampard strolled in after good lead up play by Nicolas Anelka and Ashley Cole down the left flank and then Drogba completed his hat-trick in the 68th minute with a 20-yard effort.
Malouda finished the rout with a last-minute strike to make it 6-0 and show the rest of the league that Chelsea mean business as they chase back-to-back titles.
Starting Line-Ups
CH Petr Cech (gk), John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole, Paulo Ferreira (Ivanovic 60'), John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard (Benayoun 65'), Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba (Kalou 70'), Nicolas Anelka
Subs - Henrique Hilario (gk), Yossi Benayoun (65'), Salomon Kalou (70'), Yuri Zhirkov, Branislav Ivanovic (60'), Daniel Sturridge, Patrick van Aanholt
WBA Scott Carson (gk), Gabriel Tamas, Pablo Ibanez, Marek Cech, Gonzalo Jara, Chris Brunt, Youssuf Mulumbu, Roman Bednar (Miller 67'), Graham Dorrans (Cox 67'), Jerome Thomas (Barnes 84'), James Morrison
Subs - Boaz Myhill (gk), Steven Reid, Nicky Shorey, Giles Barnes (84'), Ishmael Miller (67'), Jonas Olsson, Simon Cox (67')
